On Saturday, I went to a concert with St. Beauty and Anna Wise and it was AMAZING!!! So amazing in fact, it made me want to write several articles about it. But then I decided “nah let’s put it into one article because it’s less work”.
So the concert is at this place called Aisle 5. I have never been here before, but when I see the area I’m already excited. I find a place to park and my friend and I are just walking back to the venue and the environment is full of young artistic people with their own sense of style that could care less about what you think of them. When I see the area and the people, I’m already like ” I will definitely come back to this area in the future”.
The doors open at 9 and when we get inside, the atmosphere is really chill. There’s only a few people at this point and everyone is on the wall. My friend gets a drink and we’re just hanging out and waiting for The Pheels to start performing.
When The Pheels start performing, everybody is pretty hype. The audience vibes with them and dance along with their music. I love how much energy the main singer has and they definitely get me pumped for the next performance.
Anna Wise comes out next and she has a whole table of mixers. I listened to her music earlier in the week to see how her music was and I loved the feminist messages in her songs. However, the live performance was nothing that I was expecting and like nothing I had ever seen or experienced before. Anna literally created her sound on the spot. She recorded her background sounds with her voice and then would play it back to us live and sing over it. It was such a majestic thing to witness at a live concert.
Furthermore, she was very interactive with the audience. Usually performers are in their own world on the stage and we just watch them in person instead of on the television. Anna, however, welcomed us into her world and she made us feel like we were her actual friends. Not only did she let people sing some of the song by letting them sing into the microphone like performers usually do, she came into the audience and actually danced with us. On her last song “Go” she instructed all the ladies to come to the front and told the guys to go to the back. She said that this song was for us and she got off the stage to dance with everybody every time the chorus came on.
After Anna Wise, it was finally time for St. Beauty. I had seen them perform before when they opened for Ro James, but I knew they would probably perform more songs tonight since they were the headliners. So we’re standing there waiting for St. Beauty and then a man hands the mic backstage and we hear this woman speaking and asking us if we’re ready for St. Beauty. All of a sudden, the lady walks through the door and I immediately freak out. I am in awe as I see none other than Janelle Monae herself walking towards the front of the stage. For those who don’t know, St. Beauty is a part of Wondaland Records with Janelle Monae and Jidenna. However, I definitely did not expect Ms. Monae to introduce them in the flesh. I was so close to her that I could’ve touched her foot….but that would’ve been weird and creepy. So I kept it cool. I was just happy to be in the same room with her.
By the time Janelle left the stage, the audience was pumped for St. Beauty. They came out and did not disappoint. Both of them were so hyped on the stage and getting down. I love that they only have a few songs on spotify because you can only hear their songs when they perform live. So it makes it a worthwhile experience that is only for the people that go the extra mile to see them live. Alex and Isis also have such soothing voices that they pull you into another space that defies gravity, yet the bass brings your feet back to Earth. They’re performance was litty af and even though that was my second time seeing theme, they brought an energy that was a lot larger than that first time.
After the concert was over, people were just hanging out and I go the chance to speak and get pictures with Anna Wise and St. Beauty. I’m definitely an awkward person, but they were all very nice.
Overall, this night was probably in the top 5 of the greatest moments of my life so far.
